Many business owners and managers wonder how to keep employees motivated. They say, “I want employees excited to come to work; we have too many clock-punchers. How can I get them to do more and be more for our customers?” or “I feel like as soon as I put out one fire, another one erupts among employees. I’m tired of being a referee. They don’t work as a team.” 

And yet employees will argue that when they receive a regular paycheck or bonus and voice appreciation, they wish managers would say the same as opposed to solely relying on the money to speak for itself. 

Another employee concern is a lack of regular performance reviews to receive feedback on whether they are performing well or could use improvement in certain areas. 

After working for years as an assistant and front office person, I understand how team members feel. As a business owner and entrepreneur, I also appreciate how management feels. To help you create the best possible team, here are some tips I’ve learned. 

Management tools for team development: 

1. Praise, appreciate and encourage your employees. I don’t mean false flattery. The best praise is sincere, genuine, timely and appropriate. Praise publicly, criticize privately. When praise and appreciation in a business goes up, the entire business goes up.
    
2. Consider a reward program, which rewards exceptional, not average efforts.
    
3. Clarify your expectations, provide training, make sure the time is available to accomplish the job and mutually agree on a due date. At or shortly after the due date, do a recap and follow up with the employee. Praise what was done well and coach on what you still need: You’ll create value for the job and motivation will increase.
    
4. Recognize significant dates such as anniversary dates with the company and birthdays.
    
5. Keep your people in the know. No one likes to work in a vacuum. Without credible information, gossip and negativity increase. Have full team meetings, and smaller department and leadership meetings. Communicate directly, non-emotionally and succinctly. Consider electronic updates on projects to keep your team “in the know,” but don’t deliver bad news via email.
    
6. Have activities outside the workplace; let your team members get to know each other more personally.
    
7. Make certain everyone is working hard. If someone is allowed to slack off, show up late, and do personal things during business hours, resentment builds among the hardworking team members.
    
8. Listen for unrest or grumbling. Deal with the situation quickly; don’t let issues linger on.
    
9. Know that team members desire firm, fair, consistent leadership. Exceptional teams have managers and owners who hold everyone to the same standards and actually hold themselves to a higher standard.
    
10. Work on business goals as a team. Take one goal, break it down into necessary steps, get paid volunteers to take on the job and say, “Great! When do you want this done?” Set due dates. For urgent tasks, set weekly due dates on segments of the project. When people are working hard and accomplishing goals, morale goes up. But don’t forget to celebrate the accomplishments or the hard work will begin to feel like drudgery. They’ll say, “It’s never enough, no matter how much I do.”
     
11. Grow your people. Everyone wants to feel important in his or her work. Ask your people, “What skills, ability or training can I give you that will better enable you to do your job?” Your new hires need a lot of training, as well as 30-, 60-, and 90-day reviews. Coach daily if something needs to change, but also look for the good and share it with them. 

Turnover in a business is expensive, and costs businesses one to one and a half years of the employee’s wages. At times, turnover is a necessity and is what’s best for the business. But it can often trigger lower morale, as well as hurt due to the cost of rehiring and retraining. It’s important to keep good people. The tips above are as foundational to strong businesses as good pay and benefits. 

About the Author
Rhonda Savage, DDS, is a motivational speaker on leadership, women’s issues and communication. Visit www.milesglobal.net or email rhonda@milesglobal.net.